Recap: My China Roots Genealogy Workshop

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On Saturday, November 9, 2024, the 1882 Foundation hosted a genealogy workshop in collaboration with My China Roots at the I St. Conference Center, offering a unique opportunity for attendees to deepen their research into their family history. With bagels and coffee in hand, the workshop began with introductions, allowing participants to share their family backgrounds, origins, work, and the progress they had made in tracing their genealogy. What began as a room full of strangers quickly turned into a supportive community, united by the common goal of uncovering their ancestral roots.

The session was led by Huihan Lie, CEO and Founder of My China Roots, who kicked off the workshop by introducing the various services offered by My China Roots and explaining how to begin the search for one’s family history. Huihan emphasized the importance of three key pieces of information: your ancestors’ names, birthdates, and birthplaces, which serve as the foundation for locating your family’s zupu (or jiapu), the Chinese genealogical record.

The second and third sessions were led by Clotilde Yap, Global Collections Director at My China Roots. Clotilde’s first session focused on the historical presence of Chinese communities in East Coast Chinatowns, offering valuable insights into how to find resources for researching family histories in these areas. This was particularly useful for attendees whose families had immigrated to the East Coast. The third session dove into the specifics of zupus—how to read them, and how My China Roots can support users in deciphering these texts. Language barriers are a common challenge in genealogical research, but with a My China Roots subscription, attendees were shown how they could access character translations. By using the My China Roots database, users can highlight sections of their zupu to have them automatically translated, making these historical records more accessible.

In the final session, Huihan introduced another key service from My China Roots: the roots trip to China. For those wanting to take their family research to the next level, My China Roots offers in-depth fieldwork through their agents in China. These agents visit ancestral villages, gather relevant information, and work with clients to plan a trip to China, where they can meet family members and visit their ancestral hometowns.

The event drew 24 attendees, with 10 staff members from both the 1882 Foundation and My China Roots, bringing the total number of participants to 34. While the workshop provided attendees with valuable tools and insights for their genealogical research, the most rewarding part of the day was watching participants interact and collaborate, exchanging tips and supporting one another in their research efforts.

The 1882 Foundation is hopeful that everyone who attended not only gained a deeper understanding of their family history but also left with new connections and friendships.

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Event Recap: The Summit Tunnel – Diversity and Pride in Building the American Nation

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On March 21st, 2023, the 1882 Foundation convened our first activation as a member of the Kennedy Center’s Culture Caucus. We gathered at the Kennedy Center REACH’s Justice Forum on a warm Tuesday evening for a film screening and reception event. The activation was centered on the Summit Tunnel, a historic part of the Transcontinental Railroad constructed by largely unrecognized Chinese laborers. Despite the site being over 2,000 miles away, the sights, sounds, and ambiance of the Summit Tunnel was cultivated through film, the passion of our presenters, and the exhibition space displaying the faces of the workers and descendants who bring the site to life.

Ted Gong (1882 Foundation) and Tres McMichaels (Kennedy Center Social Impact) opened our event with remarks about the 1882 Foundation, Culture Caucus, and the power of the arts to inspire and encourage outcomes in public history, storytelling, and historic preservation. As a member of the Culture Caucus, the 1882 Foundation will present four activations at the Kennedy Center REACH over the next two years. The Summit Tunnel – Diversity and Pride is our first event, and aims to bring attention to the multifaceted importance of the Summit Tunnel and recommends its designation as a National Historic Landmark.

Legacy gives an overview of the history of Summit Tunnel #6, the site in Donner, CA where Chinese laborers worked to blast through the unforgiving granite of the Sierra Nevada mountains as part of the Transcontinental Railroad, the first of its kind to join rail systems in the Eastern United States to tracks on the West Coast. Subject matter experts Ted Gong, Phil Sexton, and Sue Lee detailed the monumental undertaking that this task was at the time of its construction and the brutal conditions under which it was accomplished, leading to the death of many Chinese workers. Finally, the film hears testimony from several descendants of Chinese railroad workers as they explore their relationship to the Summit Tunnel as a key site of their family’s history in the United States, begging the question of how we might continue to memorialize the Summit Tunnel as an exceptional part of the Chinese American experience. Legacy is directed by Joe Flannery and was produced with support from the USDA and the US Forest Service.

Next, we heard from Pat Malberg, president of the Donner Summit Historical Society, who described her family’s ties to Donner and preservation work underway at the site to deter graffiti artists and urban explorers from damaging the site. Many of the techniques used to fight graffiti are effective, such as repainting, special slippery coatings, or sandblasting, but also incur negative outcomes. Vandals see the cleared rocks as a blank canvas to re-tag, the coatings are expensive, and sandblasting removes a layer of the rock underneath the paint, meaning that the actual rocks that laborers on the Transcontinental Railroad might have touched are irreparably changed. Lastly, she explored some of the possibilities that would further protect the Summit Tunnel site, such as historic designation and further placemaking work that would generate more visitation to the Summit Tunnel and increase its presence.

Tracing History gives an intimate look at a mother-daughter duo of Chinese railroad worker descendants who travel together to the Summit Tunnel to explore their roots. Traveling by foot and car across California, they explore and reflect on their own relationship as they walk the tunnels, find artifacts of rural Chinatowns, and enjoy the natural beauty of the site. Both the director and her mother, Jalena Keane-Lee and Miko Lee, in were in attendance, marking an especially meaningful screening and portraying an example of how Chinese American descendants engage with and come to understand the legacy of the Chinese workers of the Summit Tunnel. Tracing History is directed by Jalena Keane-Lee, Breaktide Productions. Its screening at the Justice Forum was its debut.

In the lobby between the Justice Forum and PT-109, Zhi Lin’s 2013 installation Chinaman’s Chance was screened to bridge the themes presented by our speakers to the reception. In the video of the installation, the famous joining of the trains at Promontory Point, Utah is recreated from the back view. Viewers see the progression of the famed moment throughout history from the rear, speaking to the theme of Chinese exclusion from the commemoration of their work. In front of the projection, hundreds of rocks from the site at scattered, bearing the names of workers who built the Summit Tunnel.

We moved into the exhibit and reception space, PT-109, where attendees could mingle with invited subject matter experts, enjoy light refreshments, and hear from several speakers. Angela Coleman, Associate Chief of the United States Forest Service, gave remarks on the importance of equity and inclusion of a diverse range of experiences in America’s natural sites. She recognized that the Summit Tunnel site is severely endangered as a historic site, and that interpretive work is key to continuing to honor its legacy. Krystal Ka’ai, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI), spoke on the importance of historic sites like the Summit Tunnel and public education on the Asian American experience on combating anti-Asian racism. Ka’ai also shared some exciting new appointments of Asian Americans to public office by President Biden. Lastly, Ted Gong read a statement provided by Congresswoman Judy Chu, who could not join us at the Kennedy Center but sent along remarks acknowledging her own ancestry among the Transcontinental Railroad laborers and commending the work of the 1882 Foundation.

Watch the entirety of the activation below. Special thanks to Douglas Ross and Jack Yan for their help in documenting our event.

https://1882foundation.orgyoutu.be/QwvNnQkM5dI

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Return to Gold Mountain Tour

Return to Gold Mountain Tour on OCT 1-2, 2022

After a 2-year hiatus, we are resuming our Return to Gold Mountain Tour on OCT 1-2 (Sat-Sun) again.  Registration is now open for this tour with a total package rate of $300/person (double-occupancy). We will leave on a tour bus from the Sacramento RR Museum and tour the iconic sites of the Chinese railroad workers as they built the first Transcontinental Railroad.  We will spend the night in Reno and return to Sacramento by train traveling through some of the same sites. Details on the flyer attached below or reply to this email with any questions.
Please share this opportunity with your family, friends and community networks.  After our last tour, a short documentary and a Smithsonian Magazine article featuring the tour have been released (see the links below).
To register and pay to reserve your spot. Please click below.  Hope to see you this fall.
Thanks,
John Kusano
1882 Foundation & Summit Tunnel Conservation Association
Register & Pay via Jotform & PayPal (click this link)

Legacy

https://1882foundation.orgwww.youtube.com/watch?v=PbeBYUFurnY

» The Quest to Protect California’s Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels

Smithsonian Magazine

Built by Chinese immigrants in the 1860s, the caverns cutting through Donner Summit helped unite the country.

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Event Recap: G20 Interfaith Forum Anti-Racism Initiative – Responses to Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

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On June 10, 2021, the G20 Interfaith Forum Anti-Racism Initiative and FSCIRE hosted Responses to Anti-Asian Hate Crimes. The panel, moderated by G20 Interfaith Anti-Racism Initiative Chair Audrey E. Kitagawa over Zoom, was composed of Erika L. Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to President Biden and AAPI Senior Liaison; Jacinta S. Ma, Director of the Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); Representative Grace Meng from New York in the U.S. Congress; California State Assemblymember David Chiu, the first Asian American to represent eastern San Francisco (home to the city’s Asian ethnic towns); and Carl Chan, President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and local community activist.

Audrey Kitagawa started the event by providing a brief historical and contemporary context for the anti-Asian hate we see today. She emphasized that although anti-Asian hate crimes are not a new phenomenon in the United States, such incidents have been growing at an alarming rate. Then, each panelist introduced themselves and discussed their work in response to the increasing anti-Asian hate.

Erika L. Moritsugu discussed her experience with the Biden administration. She praised the administration’s actions supporting the AAPI community by advocating for racial advancement and signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Jacinta Ma then told the violence and discrimination Asian Americans experienced throughout history. Grace Meng, the first and only Asian American member of Congress representing New York, emphasized the importance of new measures to increase hate crime reporting. Assemblymember David Chiu said that even though the state legislature now has a record number of Asian members,  prejudice against the AAPI community is on the rise. Carl Chan, a hate crime victim himself, discussed the importance of increasing awareness of anti-Asian hate in response to hesitance among Asians to report for fear of shame or retaliation.

Kitagawa then directed specific questions to each speaker about their work and understanding of increased anti-Asian hate. Assemblymember Chiu’s proposals include language-accessible legal services, healthcare and mental health services, compensation for hate crime victims, a hate crime hotline, monetary aid for ethnic towns, better safety in schools along with restorative justice programs, and stronger data collection and outreach strategies. Congresswoman Meng discussed her efforts to promote a museum dedicated to Asian and Pacific American history as well as her continued collaboration with colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Native American colleagues to push for more comprehensive education that teaches children “the good and the bad, the achievements and the trauma” from America’s history. Moritsugu emphasized the role of the government as a “first mover” in recognizing the signs of systemic racism; for example, President Biden clearly named “system racism” in his Address to a Joint Session of Congress this past April. Ma called on private sector employers to have solid policies against discrimination and harassment in place, clearly communicate them from the top leadership to employees, and put them into practice within a workplace culture of openness. Chan discussed having an Asian liaison police officer that speaks the community’s language , patrolling volunteers, and providing  resources like air horns and whistles to Chinatowns across the country so local communities can protect themselves and other marginalized groups.

The panel discussion had three main points. The first is intersectionality. Meng and Chan highlighted that women make up a majority of those reporting hate crimes, such as the Atlanta shooting where six Asian women were killed. Moritsugu also underscored the religious diversity in the Asian community: when President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, several Congress members were present behind him, not only representing different regions in Asia but also different faith traditions. 

Second is the lack of AAPI history in K-12 education. As Congresswoman Meng stated, a lack of education on these lived experiences forces Asian Americans into the perpetual foreigner narrative, all of which are exacerbated by the increased racist rhetoric. Thoughts become words, and words become actions that harm people and the communities around them. Part of fixing today’s wrongs is learning from the wrongs committed in the past.

Third is speaking out against injustice, not just for the AAPI community but all marginalized communities. Chan expressed his wish for hate crime victims to be game changers by using their voices at rallies and voting. Chiu emphasized that leaders across states need to have coordinated  action for effective change to occur nationally. Kitagawa closed by encouraging each attendee to reflect on themselves, finding ways to change and grow so we can work with others to bring justice and freedom to a world where everyone is “free of fear, [discrimination], exclusion, and marginalization.”

Like any event such as this, the discussion and work does not end here. Moritsugu and Meng said: “it’s not the work of a day to fix [these issues] because it wasn’t the work of a day to pull us down” into our current state as a nation. Moritsugu concluded: “We can’t do this alone, nobody does this alone… we will never have to be alone.”

The recording of this webinar may be accessed on Youtube under the International Academy for Multilateral Cooperation as well as on the Georgetown Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs website under the Events page.

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Event Recap: Talk Story- The History of Martial Arts in DC

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On July 25th, 2021, the 1882 Foundation held its first event of three discussing martial arts in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Panelists Master Raymond Wong, Sunny Luk, and Harry Chow discussed their kung fu experiences as Chinese Americans in the D.C. area. 

The panelists first discussed how and why they got involved with kung fu. Self-defense was the common thread between the three panelists, but the media also played a substantial role. Wong was intrigued by 70s spy movies. As a result, his mother pushed him to take lessons at the Jow Ga Kung Fu Association. Although Chow grew up in a different decade, he shares a similar story to Wong. When Chow was in school, he experienced ethnic backlash from his classmates. Once the movie Green Hornet came out, Chow decided to learn kung fu to defend himself. Luk was racially targeted at school as well. His interest in martial arts was piqued after getting beat up. He became involved in different martial arts organizations before transitioning to lion dance at the Chinese Youth Club. 

The panelists then discussed how martial arts impacted Chinese American perception and identity. Wong discussed how Chinese Americans are perceived in relation to the industry they worked in. In the 1960s, Chinese immigrants only operated laundromats due to language barriers. Non-Chinese Americans only knew Chinese Americans as “People who do my laundry.” As the Chinese restaurant industry started to grow, Non-Chinese Americans began to refer to Chinese Americans as “laundry and Chinese food.” Then, Non-Chinese Americans began associating kung fu and martial arts with Chinese Americans when Bruce Lee catapulted into Hollywood fame. His involvement in the Green Hornet cultivated respect and interest in Chinese culture and martial arts. The association of martial arts was an overall positive one. Chow speaks about the power that kung fu provided him. He no longer encountered violence,” People respected me more. It is an interesting phenomenon.” 

The panelists also discussed martial arts’ accessibility and its impact on the community. As the representation of martial arts increased in the media, individuals became more invested in understanding various Asian cultures. When the interest in martial arts heightened, more kung fu schools started to open. The increase in kung fu schools played a critical role in the boom of Chinese restaurants,” Immigrants who didn’t speak English came to the kung fu school… for assistance with accessing restaurant licenses” said Wong.

The panelists then discussed how martial arts has changed over the years and the future of martial arts. Over the years, Luk discusses how the demographics of the students learning lion dancing have changed. People from non-Chinese backgrounds want to learn more about Chinese heritage and culture. In regards to the future, Wong believes that kung fu will continue to prevail since self-defense will always be necessary to survive,” As long as there is friction, there is going to be a need for self-defense.”

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1882 At: (Stay)* At Home for the Holidays with Bryan Eng and CAMDC

The Chinese American Museum in Washington, D.C. sponsored a live virtual holiday concert on December 15th featuring Bryan Eng, a Chicago-based singer, jazz musician, and actor. He was accompanied by Sam Wolsk, DW Jazz Orchestra founder, on trumpet.

Bryan and Sam perform “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

Bryan and Sam performed their own jazz renditions of songs such as “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Like Someone in Love,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “The Happy Elf.” The duo met as students at Northwestern University through their work in musical theater, where Sam played trumpet in productions that Bryan conducted. Since then, Bryan has also sung with DW Jazz Orchestra. More information about Bryan Eng can be found here.

The Chinese American Museum in Washington, D.C. (CAMDC) works to develop awareness and appreciation of Chinese American history and culture. In addition to (Stay)* At Home for the Holidays with Bryan Eng and CAMDC, its events this past year include a virtual cooking demonstration, documentary screenings, and panel discussions. Last week’s concert introduced a festive spirit as the temperature drops and the holidays approach.

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